Milan, May 15 – 17

Yesterday, an ambitious agreement was adopted at COP 23 in Milan. In The Milan Agreement countries pledge to limit the temperature increase to well below 2°C and to strive for 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this goal, parties agreed to reach the global peak of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.

Remarkable is that all countries except for the US have accepted loss and damages as a new third pillar. Furthermore, the definition of a framework for the allocation of SDM projects is postponed to the next COP.

Given the Trump administration’s position on climate change, this year’s negotiations were exceptionally challenging. Nevertheless, delegates from all over the world were well prepared and pushed for a progressive outcome. While the past two days were characterized by heated discussions, surprising negotiation tactics and concessions, the UN Climate Change conference ended with a unanimous agreement.

In a surprising move today, Russia, the notorious 4th biggest greenhouse gas emitter, for the first time ever in history, has pledged an amount of USD 2 billion as contribution to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This has helped put collective pressure on urging the US and Australia. Putin has admittedly repeated during COP 23 that “Climate change is one of the gravest challenges humanity is facing, and Russia is willing to cooperate with fellow Western leaders jointly in creating a win-win situation for all.”

During COP 23, Russia has worked closely and developed mutual interest with leaders from Germany, France, UK, Japan and others. Russia has pledged to CTCN as well as REDD+ to improve the current situation. Together with the international Community, Russia will take on the responsibility to both recognize and support climate refugees and to encourage technology transfer. (Russia)

Will the cooperative Russia get back to the original G8 coalition? Will the pressure coming from the Western leaders on Russia’s aggressive political moves be eased? (Russia)

Surprisingly, in WG „ADAPTATION“ a proposal to support CCS as a relevant technology to mitigate climate change was not vetoed by almost all countries. Japan opposed because its delegation would have wanted nuclear energy to be counted in as well.

In WG “ADAPTATION” countries have voted unanimously that loss and damages will be accepted as a new third pillar by all countries – except for the US. While this decision highlights the importance of loss and damage, direct loss and damage funding has been retrieved by merging the separate fund for adaptation into the Green Climate fund.

We would like to stress the importance of Climate Change leadership and urge the United States and Australia to follow. Japan has pledged 10 billion into the Green Climate Fund Annually, which is the highest for any single nation. In total more than 50 billion dollars has been raised by various countries like Germany, Russia, China, UK, EU, Canada and many others. We again strongly urge other countries to step up and take their responsibility just like Japan has done now. (Japan)